Scorecard

Exeter Wayfarers v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Fri 06 May 2022 at 6.00pm
Erratics Cricket Club Lost by 6 Wickets

Match report Mark Hailwood reports...

I know what you’re thinking: who are the Exeter Wayfarers, Mark? A quick online search doesn’t reveal much, and for good reason – they are a brand new club, and this was their first ever fixture. It was particularly fitting that we should be their inaugural opponents, as they are kindred spirits: a group of Exeter University students who love the game, but find the official university cricket team either too competitive or too expensive (£300 subs for the season!) and would prefer to spend their summer term playing friendly cricket against the villages of Devon. Chaz Aarons, their skipper and founder, had in fact sought us out for their first game with our history in mind - fellow casual cricketers with a university connection. He even said it was a privilege to be playing such a storied club as ourselves. It was all rather charming.

So too was the venue – Shobrooke Park. Having just completed his degree in geography and economics, Chaz demonstrated his aptitude for both in finding such a fine location at a very reasonable hire price. Two pavilions, one thatched, sit aside an unDevonly flat field of play with a nice quick wicket and a tree-lined boundary.

With the Wayfarers keen to start their campaign together in the field, we were invited to bat first. Elway and Aarons bowled at good pace to a soundtrack of noisy but good natured encouragement, and it took some gritty resistance from Martin Wr and Lee to ensure we didn’t suffer an early collapse. As we’d been led to expect, the bowling did get progressively looser – extras had another good knock – as duties were shared around between 9 different bowlers, and we started to move through the gears.

Well, Lee did. His 52 not out (we played retire at 50 at their captain’s request) accounted for 44% of our total, and included a lot of punishment of short balls, and at least one cover drive that was worth the £4 match fee on its own. The rest of our batting came and went fairly quietly, though we should note the debut of Hugh Sheridan, who looked like a batsman of class, and punched his first Erratics boundary through the covers off the back foot before perishing.

We managed the c.120 that a captain sees as the minimum required to make for a decent T20 game, and we had a strong bowling attack with which to defend it. But where we had had our Lee, they had their Chaz, and their skipper made an impressive and powerful 50 against good bowling to keep them on track. When he retired, it looked like we would be able to chip away with regular wickets and keep them at bay, but in the growing darkness we struggled to hold on to our chances and at times to even identify where the ball had gone, and it all came down to the final over with Wayfarers needing 7 to win. With Newman and Elway now well set at the crease, they managed to pick them off with a ball to spare.

But it was hard not to take some pleasure from the fact that our opponents’ first taste of friendly Devon cricket had delivered them a dramatic last over victory. As we savoured a lager from the clubhouse fridge we wished them many more.

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 26w 9b  
for 5 wickets
37
118		        
Fraser Chave b Aarons 1 8 12.50 1
Martin Wright ct Mathiew 14 26 1 53.85
Lee Grant Retired Not Out  52 49 6 2 106.12
Hugh Sheridan ct Bastide 4 12 1 33.33
Alex Thomas ct Rooth 0 5 0
Anuj Tiwari ct Nicholas 1 11 9.09
Mark Phillips Not Out  2 2 100
Rithvik Gutha Not Out  7 3 1 233.33
Andrew Forrester   1
Ben Youngman  
Mark Hailwood  

Exeter Wayfarers Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Elway3.00600.002.00
Aarons2.00616.003.00
Newman2.001300.006.50
Jamieson4.003800.009.50
Mathiew2.0016116.008.00
Bastide2.01414.002.00
Rooth2.0015115.007.50
Nicholas2.00919.004.50
Connell1.00200.002.00

Exeter Wayfarers Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 2w 3b 2lb 
for 4 wickets
8
122 (19.5 overs)		     
Mathiew b Youngman 10
Connell ct Forrester B. Gutha 6
Aarons Retired Not Out  51
Rily b Grant 10
Jamieson ct Chave B. Hailwood 5
Newman Not Out  18
Elway Not Out  15
   
   
   
   

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Ben Youngman3.0017117.005.67
Rithvik Gutha4.0030130.007.50
Anuj Tiwari3.001700.005.67
Lee Grant3.0022122.007.33
Mark Hailwood4.0119119.004.75
Fraser Chave2.501600.005.65